Liège Bastogne Liège

April 24, 2012

I watched the race for the first time, as the excellent tv coverage of the spring classics continues here in NZ. I’d only read about most of these races in the past. In contrast to the last couple of races, I really enjoyed this one. It had so much going on, the break away, constant attacks, the gallant loser who tried from so far out and the plucky winner. The favourites featured but didn’t win.

Nibali’s attack and solo attempt at the finish was superb. Unfortunately he ran out of steam long before the finish and was easily outpaced by the strong finish of Iglinskiy.

The group behind was a classic example of too many chiefs who were not prepared to work together. I was amused that Sanchez sat on the back and did nothing while Roland worked at the front. Remember the Alp in the tour last year? Sanchez berated Roland on that occasion, on this one he didn’t show any interest in coming to the front. Mind you, he wasn’t alone. There were plenty of them who didn’t want to pull. And so they let those ahead win without a challenge.

Before then, there was a lot of hard chasing from several teams. Every time that one of the teams put the hammer down, plenty of riders were spat out the back. BMC, Katusha, Europcar, leopard (or whatever their too long name is) all had a go.

The commentary was amusing and annoying due to the very limited knowledge of the pro scene. Riders were only recognised by the race number or by the captions, attacks were missed, the state of the riders was unknown. Good on them for putting it on and having an enthusiastic commentary. Next time, how about you add someone who can add the technical cycling side of it. There must be a hundred in the country who would do it, probably for nothing. I know I would.